Opening of Tony Kushner’s musical to be attended by the sources for his characters
By Asa Pittman
For the St. Louis American
Attendees of the St. Louis Black Repertory Company’s 29th season opener, Caroline, or Change, may be in for a rare treat – a seat next to the play’s leading lady, the real-life Caroline.
Show up at the play’s preview tonight, January 5, and you might share armrests with Maudie Lee Davis, the Louisiana woman who inspired Tony Kushner’s semi-autobiographical musical, when she comes to St. Louis to view the first production of Caroline since its 2004 hit Broadway run.
Caroline, or Change had top billing on the repertory’s roster months before anyone at the theater company discovered an actual Caroline existed, said Starsky Wilson, director of institutional advancement at the Black Rep. The theater heads awarded the play the starting position because of its potential to pull in tickets – Wilson said, “We know our audience loves musicals” – and its ability to shed light on a watershed era in American history. “Caroline is about the change that happened during the Civil Rights Movement and how it affected real people,” Wilson said.
Set in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1963, Caroline, or Change chronicles the tumultuous relationship between Caroline Thibodeaux, an African-American maid, and the affluent, Jewish family she serves, the Gellmans.
A poor, single mother or three, Caroline struggles to manage her home and the Gellman household, strained by the recent death of its matriarch and the arrival of her replacement, new wife and stepmother, Rose Stopnick Gellman. Drawn together by mutual sorrow, Caroline and the youngest Gellman, eight-year-old Noah, forge an uneasy friendship, which is threatened by their personal demons, social unrest and, of course, change.
Fate and curiosity paired the real-life Caroline with the Black Rep, said Wilson. During a Christmas 2005 visit to Lake Charles, he and his wife attempted to track down the fabled Gellman residence, the principal setting of Caroline. “My wife and I wanted to see if the Gellman house really existed,” said Wilson. “If it did exist, I wanted to take pictures of the house to show the (cast) and to use for promotions.”
No house stood at 913 Saint Anthony St., the Gellman’s address. “Saint Anthony Street ends at 909,” said Wilson. He strolled through the wooded lot where the Gellman home should have been, looking for remnants of previous inhabitants, when a neighbor, curious about Wilson’s activities, offered help. “I wasn’t finished explaining my situation when she said, ‘You’re looking for the Kushners,’ and pointed to a house.”
Wilson rang the doorbell of the home. The woman who answered the door was Martha Kushner, Tony Kushner’s stepmother and the inspiration for the stepmother character in Caroline.
Another shock awaited Wilson within the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s childhood home. Maudie Lee Davis, the Kushner maid of 30 years and the woman upon which Tony Kushner based the protagonist of Caroline, sat in the kitchen. Only the Kushner patriarch was absent, away in New York City helping his son promote the latest Tony Kushner production, the Steven Spielberg-directed film, Munich.
Both ladies of the Kushner household joined Wilson in the sitting room of the home, where he identified himself and explained his presence in Lake Charles. The friendly conversation that ensued revealed a string of auspicious coincidences and surprises.
“Mrs. Kushner is from St. Louis, and she loves the theater,” said Wilson. Maudie, he discovered, was nothing like her downtrodden counterpart in Caroline. “She’s an active, vibrant, happy woman. The typical Louisiana mom/grandma.”
Wilson invited both women to attend a performance of the Black Rep’s Caroline. Kushner, who already had plans to visit St. Louis in January, altered her agenda to coincide with the play’s run. Davis accepted the invitation as well. She is scheduled to attend tonight’s performance, following a gala dinner in her honor sponsored by The Black Repertory Company.
When they take in the play, both the Jewish Mrs. Kushner and the African-American Ms. Davis will hear familiar melodies from their cultural backgrounds, said Jeanine Tesori, the musical composer for Caroline, or Change: “The styles of music in Caroline are tied to the characters of the play, their legacy, their heritage.”
The music of Caroline, she said, also pulls from the ethnic mélange that is Louisiana. “You might hear the blues, R&B, spirituals, work songs, classical music, even Bolshevik-era Russian tunes in the play.” At times, the culturally distinct sounds blend together. This musical race mixing is intentional, said Tesori: “Cultures impact each other, especially when they live under one roof. The lines get blurry, as do the musical shadings of Caroline.”
Performances for “Caroline, or Change” will be held from Jan. 4 to Jan. 29 at the Grandel Theater, 3610 Grandel Square. Call the Black Rep at 534-3810 or visit www.stlouisblackrep.com.
